Apparatus for laying roofing-felt.



APPLICATION FILED AER. 30.1918.

Patented Sept. 1O, 1918.

0 m m N l.

n45 "ohms PEYERS ca. ruom-u-ma. WASHnvfimN; n. c.

'm'ent, imperfection 0 JAM-Es WILSON, 0F s'rnarronnp CONNECTICUT, Assreivon To H. W. JoHNs-MANvILLn COMPANY, A CORPORATION or NEW YORK.

AI PARATUS non- LAYING ROOFING-FELT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

Application fileaa riiao, 1918 seriariv'o'. 231,741.

venient means for applying roofing felts to any proper base or support. Roofing of this character is formed of a flexible waterp'l'toofed fabric, usually a series of layers of asbestos or other felt, saturated and cemented' together by asphalt or ta-r. Such roofing is marketed in sheets or strips about thirty-two inches wide rolled up for convenience in transportation, and these rolls are unrolled in position on the roof, the overlapping edges of successive sheets cemented together and the covering so formed otherwise treated, if desired, to produce a continuous waterproof protecting layer for the entire roof deck beneath.

According to prior commercial practice the rolls of roofing have been unrol-led manually by the workmen and pressed down flat by a variety of primitive means, frequently with resultin inaccuracy of alinef cementing action at the lap and liability to wrinkling and tearing. moreover, been practically impossible of )erformance with existing means. My present invention provides a cheap and simple means for avoiding these difficulties and greatly increasing the rapidity of the opera tion. It also renders the proper laying of the roofing possible on a windy day with as much ease as in calm weather. The best form of apparatus at present known to me embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings in On a windy day this operation has.-

1mg projection, fronr the under side of the main frame which may be formed of rocker arms 9 held to themain frame by bolts e and supporting a bearing-in roller which latter may consist of a section of two inch wrought iron pipe, 2'', having welded edges or flanges bored to receive rod it, and provided with a soft flexible rubber covering 7". In such construction the rod it serves as a shaft on which" the described bearing-in roller freely rotates.

When the joint at e, is made loose enough to allow the rocker arms 9 to'swing freely, as indicated by the broken line in Fig. 2, they are normally held in' the position shown in the drawing, or in the opposite position, by the sWin'ging SnubberS or chock-pieces a, n, which are pivoted to the main frame at p, and with their free ends engage the notches 9' in the said rockerarm's. As the rocker arms are long enough to swing the bearing-in roll around the end of the main frame, this construction makes both the swinging fra'me'and chock pieces reversible so that the apparatus may be used with either side of the main frame uppermost.

At the rear end of the main frame are one or more handles projecting preferably on both sides of the frame, and usually composed of a bolt 0, on which are mounted one or more small wooden cylinders or spools a.

One of these handles, or a considerable portion of it, should project beyond ajpl'ane passing through the end of the roll'of roofing and perpendicular to its axis so that the operator Walking behind the handles need not step on the roofing" being rolled down" by the apparatus. I

At the other, or front end of the frame the sidepi'eces are bored to receive a, removable shaft Eon which a roll of roofing-may be mounted so as to rotate freely. Preferably this shaft is formed of a one-inch wrought iron pipe upset or flanged to form a head m at one end, and bored to receive a cotter pin 8 at the other. This end of pipe 70 may also be threaded, as shown at r to receive a pipe coupling which forms a head on the shaft to take the place of cotter pin 8. The pipe 70 may be bored as shown at Z in Fig. l, to receive a bolt to lock the pipe coupling in position.

In transportation the rocker arms 9, and chock pieces n may lie fiat along the main frame, thus economizing space.

roofing faster .than two men could do it in In use a roll of roofing t is mounted on shaft is, with its free end running back under the bearing-in roll, all as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The arms 9 may be ad-.

justed to suitthe operator and clamped in any position by tightening bolts 0, or they may be held in the position shown by snubbers a, n, or they may be left free to swing. The apparatus is pushed over the roof in such manner that the bearing-in roller and strip of roofing being unrolled under it will overlap to the desired extent the edge of the roofing already laid, cement having been first applied to the edgesto be overlapped.

deck as it unrolls and the bearing-in? roller will rest on the unrolled strip of roofing with its own Weight alone. If, however, the bolts 6 are tightened or the snubbers it used so as to hold arms 9 rigidly in an adjusted position the whole apparatus may be supported on said bearing-in roller,

the roll t of roofing being supported by shaft 76 at a slight distance above the roof deck;

This method applies all the pressure at the bearing-in roller. The other method divides the pressure between the roll of roofing and the bearing-in roller.

When the operator has reached the end of the roof, he can adjust the apparatus so as to lay the next strip on the back trip by reversing the roll of roofing t, and swinging the bearing-in roller and snubbers a, n, to

the other side of the main frame, as indicated by the dotted arcs 111 Fig. 2.

With my inventlon one man can lay the the old way, and as fast as several men working together can apply the cement-on the surfaces to be covered; he can do it in weather so windy as to render work impossible by the old method; and he can make a better job of it than was possible with the mostex ert operators under the old method.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. An apparatus for applying or laying roofing and the like which comprises in combination, a frame having a handle at one end, a removable shaft mounted in the other end of the frame adapted to serve as a supporting axis for the roll of roofing which is to be applied to a roof, and abearing-in roller connected to the frame to the rear of, and parallel to, the above mentioned shaft.

2. The combination of a frame wide enough at one end to receive a roll of flexible roofing, but tapering toward the other end, a removable shaft mounted in the first mentioned end of the frame adapted to pass through such roll of roofing, while allowing it to rest on the roof deck, and a handle at the tapered end of the frame parallel to the above mentioned shaft, a substantial portion of said handle being offset from the frame and lying outside of a plane passing through the nearest end of the roll of roofing on the shaft and perpendicular to its axis.

3. A combination such as described in claim 1, in which the bearing-in rollerand its connections are free to swing toward and from the main frame.

4. An apparatus for applying or laying roofing felts and the like which comprises, in oombmation, a frame having a handle olfset laterally at one end, a removable shaft mounted in the other end of the frame and adapted to serve as a supporting aXis for the roll of felt which is to be applied to the roof, a reversible swinging frame pivoted to the mainframe, which swinging frame is long enough to swing by the end of the 'main frame, a bearing-in roller journaled' in said swinging frame, and reversible chockp1eces pivoted to the mam frame and adapted to engage the swlngmg frame and hold it at a predetermined angle to the main frame on eitherside thereof.

JAMES WILSON.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR J. HULL, MAY MoRnHoUsE.

Copies ot'this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents. Washington, D. 0." V 

